Who is Peter Sullivan, why was he jailed, and why has his conviction been quashed?
After more than 38 years in prison, the Court of Appeal has quashed the 68-year-old’s conviction for the murder of Diane Sindall
After more than 38 years behind bars Peter Sullivan is now a free man.
The 68-year-old was found guilty of the murder of florist and pub worker Diane Sindall in 1987.
But on Tuesday 13 May, three senior judges quashed his conviction after the Court of Appeal heard how DNA evidence revealed the killer was someone else.
It was the culmination of years of attempts by Mr Sullivan, who maintained his innocence, to appeal against his conviction.
Attending the court hearing via video link from HMP Wakefield, he appeared to put his hand to his mouth and weep as the ruling was made public.
He is believed to be the UKās longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Who is Peter Sullivan?
Peter Sullivan is a former labourer, with learning difficulties, who was described at the time of his trial as a loner.
On Friday 1 August 1986 ā Ā the last night Diane Sindall was seen alive ā he was alleged to have spent the day drinking after losing a darts match.
What happened to Diane Sindall?
That night, Ms Sindall had been working at the Wellington pub in Bebington in Wirral, Merseyside. It was a part-time job she had taken on while saving up for her wedding.
The 21-year-old, from Seacombe, had left work at 11.45pm in her blue Fiat van but on her way home the vehicle ran out of petrol in Borough Road. She got out of the van, grabbed her jerry can and walked towards the nearest petrol station.
She was seen by several witnesses, including a bus driver and a taxi driver, walking along Borough Road between midnight and 12.20am on the Saturday morning.
But she never made it home.
Her body was discovered by a dog-walker 12 hours later on 2 August in an alleyway off Borough Road. She had been sexually assaulted and brutally murdered.
Her injuries included a fractured skull, lacerations and severe bruising. The cause of death was established as a cerebral haemorrhage following multiple blows.
Just over two weeks later, on 17 August, property belonging to Ms Sindall was recovered from Bidston Hill, Wirral.
Witnesses had reported seeing a small fire on Sunday, 3 August at the location where the property was foundand said they saw a man running from the scene who they recognised as āPeteā.
But they failed to pick him out in an identity parade.
A BBC Crimewatch reconstruction of the crime saw more witnesses come forward claiming they saw a man fitting Mr Sullivanās description at the scene of the fire.
He was arrested by Merseyside Police on 23 September 1986 and gave a number of different accounts of his movements at the time of the murder. He had also left for London shortly after Ms Sindall was killed.

Why was Peter Sullivan jailed?
During initial police questioning, Mr Sullivan then 29, is reported in court documents to have broken down in tears and āconfessed ā to the murder.
It later emerged he was not provided with an appropriate adult or legal representation in this early period of questioning.
On 25 September, he was given access to a solicitor and retracted his confession.
At his trial for murder in 1987, evidence was given of bite marks on Ms Sindallās body which dental experts said at the time could be matched to Mr Sullivan.
He was found guilty of Ms Sindallās murder in November that year, dubbed the āBeast of Birkenheadā and the āMersey Ripperā, and sentenced to life in prison.
Why has Peter Sullivanās conviction been quashed after 38 years?
Over his years of incarceration, Mr Sullivan made a number of attempts to have his conviction overturned.
In 2008, he applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) questioning DNA evidence. Experts from the Forensic Science Service (FSS) advised at that time that any further testing would be very unlikely to produce a DNA profile, and the case was not referred to the Court of Appeal.
The techniques used in the testing that led to Mr Sullivanās case eventually being referred were not available at the time of his first application.
In 2019, Mr Sullivan sought leave to appeal directly without CCRC involvement. This was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2021. The court determined the bitemark evidence, on grounds of which he was appealing against his conviction, was not central to the prosecution at trial.
However, the CCRC found evidence that suggested it was.

Mr Sullivan applied to the CCRC once again in March 2021, raising concerns about his interviews by the police, bitemark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon.
After consulting experts, the CCRC obtained DNA information from semen samples taken at the time of the offence.
As a result, a DNA profile was obtained which did not match that of Mr Sullivan, and so the CCRC sent Mr Sullivanās conviction back to the Court of Appeal.
In June 2023, Merseyside Police reopened the investigation into the murder of Ms Sindall, after notification from the CCRC that DNA recovered at the scene was not a match for Mr Sullivan.
And on 13 May this year, the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction.
Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Bryan, said they had āno doubt that it is both necessary and expedient in the interests of justiceā to accept the new DNA evidence.
āIn the light of that evidence, it is impossible to regard the appellantās conviction as safe,ā he added.

What did Peter Sullivan say after the court hearing?
In a statement from Mr Sullivan, read outside court by his lawyer Sarah Myatt after the hearing, he said: āWhat happened to me was very wrong, but it does not detract or minimise that all of this happened off the back of a heinous and most terrible loss of life.
āI did not commit murder or unlawfully take the life of any person throughout the span of my own.
āAs God is my witness, it is said the truth shall take you free.
āIt is unfortunate that it does not give a timescale as we advance towards resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter.
āI am simply anxious to return to my loved ones and family as Iāve got to make the most of what is left of the existence I am granted in this world.ā